Wonderful Journey
by Niana Kuonji
Summary: Just a songfic that I did for fun, a little gettogether of most of my fanfic characters. Includes a hint of what my fourth Season Story will be about.


This piece gives itself the relative timeframes within my story arcs, and it is most definitely set before Summer Avalon. Slade3, my unofficially-adopted big bro, has my laptop which was the only location for this fic, hence why it was not posted sooner. He'll be getting my laptop back so hopefully I can start in on a slightly different sort of fic that I've decided to call Zodiac. Still YYH, but you'll see. Now that I've finished writing Summer Avalon (but you still have to wait for me to post it, neener neener neener! 'n,.,n' ) I'm trying to start the fourth and final story in my Season Tales, but I'm not having much luck. Luke and Craig are _not_ cooperating.

For fun, you the reviewers can actually have a hand in the creative process! So long as it starts with 'Autumn', you can give me suggestions on what to call the fourth story. The one I like best will be the actual title and will get full credit for the name! _—throws confetti—_

Disclaimer: _—checks various papers scattered on desk—_ Nope, still no bill-of-sale for YYH rights, and I've never owned the song _Wonderful Journey_ as anything but a CD.

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A faint sound of piano as the scene opens onto a sunlit park full of leafy trees. Our favorite ice-born fire apparition reclines near the top of one of the taller, eyes closed in what appears to be a deep nap that shows no sign of ending. Of course, someone has other plans.

"Hiei," comes a giggle from far below, "what are you doing up there? You promised to be ready by three and it's a quarter 'til. How are we supposed to meet them when you're sleeping?"

Thick black lashes part to reveal one crimson eye, slit against the bright sunlight as he looks down to find his beloved standing at the base of the tree, one hand resting on the trunk while she gazes upward. The eye closes again. "Hn. Like I care?"

"Maybe not, but _I_ care. Do you really want to make me unhappy, fluffy-fur?" An inward sigh and a wince at her new nickname for him, the fire apparition sitting up to look at her properly. Which reminds him yet again not to look at her when she sounds like that.

Her heart-shaped face matches her voice, eyes wide and glimmering with her lower lip pouted in an endearingly annoying expression of cute. The fingers of her free hand tug at the brightly-striped ponytail, twisting in the long chocolate-amber locks. Mentally kicking himself for looking down when he damn well knows he shouldn't, the fire apparition drops to the ground in front of her with a growl.

"I hate it when you do that. How do you always manage that?"

"Manage what?" she asks absently as a small creature emerges from beneath her hair to stretch along her left shoulder. This little animal that looks like a cross between a fox and a squirrel is Nao, her Spirit Beast. And he's just as much trouble as his name implies.

Hiei smirks at her sideways glance, those peridot eyes telling him that she knows exactly what he's talking about. She's just going to make him explain it like always. "You get me to do what you want with a look. Any other being that tried to manipulate me in such a blatant fashion would find their head rolling on the ground. And yet…and yet you never make me mad when you do this. Annoyed, yes. But not mad. Why?"

An impish peck on his cheek accompanies her merry answer. "Because I'm special, that's why! One of a kind!" She beams at him, echoed by Nao now stretched along her shoulder with his fluffy tail quirked upwards.

"For which I thank Kami daily," Hiei mutters to himself, knowing she can hear him. "I don't think I could remain sane with two of you."

Kohaku just laughs, pulling him by the wrist towards the path. "You know you love me, anyway, koi! Now come on, we're going to be late!"

_We were strangers, starting out on a journey._

Kohaku glances behind her, finding crimson red eyes gleaming back in that familiar expression of mixed exasperation and delight with her antics. The corners of her own peridot eyes crinkle in response as she picks up their pace so that they're nearly running down the cobblestone paths. By luck or chance, there's virtually no one jogging at this time of day so there's no need for evasive maneuvers.

Today is the first-year anniversary of her return to life, and she and her friends (both Japanese and American) are celebrating with a big bash over at Kurama's house. Much to the human-fox's dismay, his mother had insisted on it (though the human woman believes that the year Kohaku spent dead was actually spent in a coma) because of all the people involved, the Minaminos--now the Hatakanas--have the biggest yard and house.

_Still kinda hard to believe how much has happened since we moved here,_ Kohaku muses to herself as she lets her body go into autopilot on 'run'. First, there was that stupid fanclub that had started following her on her first day at Meiou, then there was that time that the tiger-demon had kidnapped and poisoned her, then had come the world-shattering revelation that not only were demons are real, but she's a full-blooded wolf-youkai.

After that had come six long months of hard training--mostly with Hiei--and then had come the Dark Tournament. That last battle there had cost her her life for one year and had left her beloved in a deep state of depression for all the time she had been gone. Then again, _that_ had been because Koenma hadn't mentioned the particular clause in the contract allowing her to fight: a death due to the Tournament was not permanent.

Now the two of them are in a band with Kohaku's American friends (thank you, portals!) Cassie, Ally, Craig and Luke, that they call Pocky America. Oh, well. It was all worth it, if one considers the fact that Hiei is now her promised mate for when she feels old enough--or at least turns eighteen.

_'Heh, heh, alll miine.'_

"Stop giving me that look, you crazy wolf."

"What look?"

_Never dreaming, what we'd have to go through._

Hiei gives her that bothered-yet-silly (as silly as Hiei gets in public, anyway) smile that he reserves only for her, which makes her giggle at him as she easily avoids people she can't see since she's looking back at him. "The one that says you're thinking I'm edible."

"And that bothers you?" The gamine grin he's come to love in stereo thanks to Neo.

"No. Not really." A full-throated laugh this time as they go from park to busy sidewalk, a glance at the sun telling him they've only been running for a minute or so. Not bad time since they're sticking to speeds that humans are capable of running.

Hiei allows himself a hidden, inward sigh of contentment as he gets pulled along by the energetic ookami towards Kurama's house, a sigh leavened with no little relief. It's only been about a month since their one (rather large) fight that had sent Kohaku fleeing to Makai, and for a span of nearly a week (spent almost entirely at the Blade-Arm Lair) had Hiei worrying that she hated him. Most of that time Kohaku had been asleep, recovering from the pneumonia she'd picked up walking for hours in the cold rain that she herself had created.

It had given the fire apparition far too much time to fret. Ah, well. In the end, he'd earned forgiveness with a public declaration--it was a wolf lair; no such thing as privacy for spoken confessions--of his shortcomings, a few karaoke songs, and a few days spent with his hair a mix of neon blue and black. Actually, he'd rather liked the style and uses it now for gigs.

The wind of their passage makes the bottom hem of Kohaku's black crop-top flutter up, giving him glimpses of the diamond-shaped scar between the lowest points of her shoulderblades, just to the left of her spine. There's a matching one on her front right below her sternum; a souvenir of her last match in the Tournament when a lightning youkai had impaled her with a piece of rebar.

If it wasn't for the fact that Kohaku had come back from Spirit World, that youkai--a youngster named Yin--would have found a long, painful death at either Hiei's hands or his soul-sib Aislin's. As it is, that girl is still probably jumping at shadows since Aislin's last words to the female had been, _"Should we meet beyond the grasp of the Committee and its rules, I suggest you run."_

Veery vindictive, he and his 'mirror'. Very vindictive indeed.

_Now here we are, and I'm suddenly standing, at the beginning with you._

----

There's just the sounds of lazy insects and the soft whirring of a spinning wheel breaking the heavy ever-summer afternoon silence around a familiar little cottage, two people enjoying the peace that lies as thick as the sunlight around them.

One is a young woman with her long crimson hair tied into a thick braid, a yellow-and-black checkered bandanna wrapped around her head behind her ears. Her emerald green eyes are narrowed in concentration and against the golden light pouring down on them from no visible source, her hands busy with a moon-silver thread being spun from the mist around the slender fingers. The thread is drawn from the mist, wrapping around the spindle as a shining length with no flaws.

The other person is a young man about the same age, with short, wavy black hair and a shirt made of metallic silk patterned to resemble scales. When the thick lashes blink open, we find he has unique eyes of Mandarin origin, slate blue and drowsy. His inky lashes are so thick and long, he almost looks like he's lined his eyes with kohl, with a long grass-stem trapped between his lips.

Rei glances over at him, a sweet smile curving coral-pink lips upward and revealing her small fangs. Taro props himself up on one elbow to gaze at his beloved, an absent, distracted smile beneath half-hooded lids.

"You're giving me that cave-bat look again, love. Penny for your thoughts?" The once-cursed male smiles more solidly, pulling out the stem to speak.

"Just wondering how much of you and me is from us, and how much is from your work."

A pleased quirk of her ruby eyebrow. "All us. Fate doesn't do the romance thing, Taro-kun, that's entirely Eros' bailiwick."

"So our love is entirely luck?"

"Mm-hmm."

Taro lies back down with a happy sigh. "Good."

_No one told me I was going to find you. _

Rei glances over at her fiancée again, a delighted, wondering smile lighting those emerald eyes so like her cousin Kurama's as she remembers the first time she'd seen Taro. It hadn't been when she'd stumbled across his home in the untamed mountain forests of China like he thinks. No, it had been when she was about seven, and her grandmother had shown her the Tapestry for the very first time.

Little Rei had stared in wonder at the glorious colors dancing across every Thread in the woven piece as the formidable--but oh-so-gentle--woman that Rei remembers with fondness had explained exactly what the child had been looking at and why.

And had only smiled when, pulled by some instinct only understood long after Grandmother Ritsuko had passed, the young child had reached out to touch a silver-blue, dimly-glowing Thread. Behind her eyes, Rei had seen a young boy about her own age sitting in depression in a tree, knees tucked up to his chest as he sniffled once again at the unfairness of it all.

Then and there, Rei had resolved that if she ever met this boy, she would only call him by the second half of his name, Taro. But she wouldn't be allowed when she took up the mantle of Fate to tweak his Thread to meet him.

Hell, the hanyou had been stretching the rules to tweak Ryoga's to bring him to a place she chose--she'd only been able to because she'd already met him and the now-rarely Lost Boy is what is known as a Wild Card, outside of everyone's bailiwick except Time and Life's.

There is no describing the absolute joy she had felt when she'd realized that she'd found the lonely boy she'd seen so long ago…but given her situation at the time she'd felt a token resistance would be expected. Her coworker Eros had decided to be nice for a change and had let Taro fall in love with Rei as much as she had already loved him.

Another quirk of her lips. Sometimes being a ruler of destiny does have its perks.

_Unexpected, what you did to my heart._

Taro sighs quietly as he soaks up the welcome heat not usually found in Japan's early spring, feeling lazy as a fat housecat under the sourceless sunlight. In all his life, he had never dreamed he could be so happy. Okay, so he still has that absolutely horrid title of Pansuto (Pantyhose) Taro. But the one person he really cares about never calls him that; she just calls him Taro with the occasional affectionate suffix.

The fact that his number one (and only) person is sitting right next to him is a big factor, too. It's impossible for him to be mad or unhappy when she's got that lopsided grin on her face and she's humming a silly little song while she works, sending impish little glances his way once and a while.

Someday he'll get that old pervert to change his name, even if he has to half-kill Happosai to do it. It's just so unbelievable, here he is, a man with a name no sane man would tolerate, with someone who loves him even with that name and his quick temper. Incredible.

_When I lost hope, you were there to remind me…_

He lifts one wrist, glancing absently at his watch, only to bolt upright with an undignified squawk when he sees the time. "Aw, hell, Rei-chan! We're going to be late!"

"Are we, now?" comes the lazy drawl as she dissipates the mist and gathers up her wheel. Taro blinks at her calm response, remembers one of her abilities, and starts grinning. He gets to his feet, dusting off his white linen pants and hopping into his shoes while Rei vanishes into her cottage long enough to put her spinning wheel away.

When she reemerges into the sunshine dressed in a blue tank-top and jeans, she catches him by the hand, lifts her free hand and snaps her fingers. Air quietly rushes into the space where the couple had been standing just a moment before.

_This is the start!_

----

Laughter as Rei and Taro appear with a soft 'poom' in the middle of the yard, hair wind-swept and wild with their cheeks flushed from their journey between dimensions. It's a side effect not experienced when Rei and the rest of the Elemental Quartet (Masaya, aka Horse or Koudo; Kalerian, aka Koi or Mizu; and Kohaku, aka Falcon or Kaze) 'snap out' within one dimension, only when they go between them.

The two are spun away from each other by separate dance partners, music provided by a grinning Kohaku and her band with Hiei near the back of the makeshift stage. The fire apparition is still very noticeable with his spiky hair shot with neon blue streaks setting off his wine-red eyes, but he's nowhere near as flashy as his gypsy-style fiancée Kohaku.

The band members are all wearing shiny jewelry, temporary hair dye, glitter, and Day-Glo clothing, though somehow none of them clash with each other's costumes. Taro finds himself dancing with a petite, white-haired young woman with turquoise eyes gleaming in laughter.

"Hello, Taro."

"Hello, Aislin. Where's your fox?" Those eyes flick around, her smile growing wider.

"He's the one who's got Rei-chan at the moment, though Yusuke looks like he's going to steal--ah, he did." The two laugh as they stop dancing to watch Yusuke whirl away with a grinning Rei in his arms while Kurama stands there, tapping his foot with his own wry grin.

"I thought it was the fox that was the thief."

Aislin's eyes dance with amusement at the little 'battle' unfolding before them. "Oh, make no mistake, Kurama's going to get her back for a full dance. Just watch!" Indeed, Taro notes as he chuckles, Kurama's infamous quick wit jumps to the fore. Sweeping Keiko from Masaya with an apologetic shrug, the fox-human maneuvers the two of them close enough to Yusuke and Rei, then switches their partners.

Yusuke now dances with a laughing Keiko while Kurama waltzes away with his cousin, her own merriment ringing over the yard.

_Life is a road that I wanna keep going, love is a river I wanna keep flowing…_

Kohaku's own delight in the whole lot of people gathered around her is clear in her voice as she sings, not to mention there's all of the shenanigans they're getting into. There's Kuwabara trying (key word _trying_) to dance with Yukina and finding out that the light-footed koorime is much better at it than he is--especially with Hiei glaring daggers at the lanky young man and unnerving him.

Then there's Yusuke getting into trouble with Keiko as he gets into his old tricks and starts messing with her wardrobe. He's sporting two swollen cheeks after the second trick while Kuwabara just smirks away.

Kalerian and Masaya plot with Luke and Craig to play a game of 'keep away' with Kurama and his fiery cousin, succeeding for a good hour before the fox finally steals her again with a satisfied chuckle, only to have Taro spin her away in the next moment. When the band takes a break and puts on some of their canned music, Kohaku and Hiei get into mischief by starting a grind competition. Surprisingly enough, Hiei unbends enough to join in the competition despite the obvious efforts of Kuwabara and Yusuke not to laugh--they stop laughing when Hiei proves himself to be a far better dancer than either of them _and_ Kurama.

Aislin helps him prove it by swiping him for a round from his fiancée and working some of her illusion magic to play some of the older drinking melodies she used to hear in the bars of Makai. The two end up spending another hour teaching eager participants in learning some of the simpler steps.

_Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey!_

Shiori and Kurama's new step-family drift through now and again, always smiling with the bubbling enthusiasm flowing around everyone. Though Kurama's new step-father does lift an eyebrow at the sight of Luke and Craig grinding together once or twice. The black-haired Luke, eighth bat demon and the reincarnation of Kuronue, Aislin and Kurama's best friend in the bygone days, has been dating the blond human for well over a year-and-a-half, and the two are promising to send invitations when they have the date for the handfasting set.

Since Human World generally frowns on same-sex marriages, the young men are going by youkai methods, choosing a relatively formal declaration-style event that resembles a wedding, but is shorter, less stifling, and much more fun for everyone involved. They just have to find a place and time to hold it, which is proving a bit trickier than they expected.

Aislin suggests asking Genkai, Yusuke's teacher, if they could use her temple. The thing is certainly spacious enough and they wouldn't have to worry about human laws or anything. The formidable old woman is a law unto herself, and her law reigns supreme at her remote temple. "If she says no, well, then, I suppose you're screwed. And I mean that figuratively, you young leches."

The two just snicker at the mock-stern after-thought before embroiling a number of the other girls and Kurama in a discussion of the details of décor, food, and clothing. From time to time, the emerald-eyed fox glances up from the conversation to grin crookedly at his life-mate.

_I'll be there when the world stops turning, I'll be there when the storm is through…_

Aislin smiles back as she listens with only half an ear to the discussion of fighting techniques that's taken up most of the males in the gathering, the music turned down in consideration of neighbors who are probably trying to settle in for the night, given that it's nearly nine already. To herself, the ice-fox lists off who's in what group:

Handfasting debate: Luke and Craig; Kurama; both Kohakus (wolf and the part wind, part falcon youkai); Hiei, interestingly enough; Cassie and Ally, glitter-Kohaku's girl friends from America; Akane, Ukyo, and Shampoo from Nerima; Botan, Keiko and Yukina.

Fighting debate: Yusuke and Kuwabara, naturally; Ranma, Ryoga, Mousse and Rei (all are residents of Nerima as well); Shizuru (no real surprise there); Koenma; Masaya and Kalerian; and Taro. Hmm, that makes the conversations very lopsided…Aislin decides to wander over to the discussion on techniques in time to put in her own two cents on a particular style that somehow migrated from her friend Merc Guild Capt. Mizu all the way to Ningenkai's China to be practiced by Taro.

Kurama overhears her promising Taro that she would take him sooner or later to meet the originator of his style, and squeaking when the tall fighter sweeps her up in an enthusiastic hug. That group laughs, and the fox turns his attention back to his own debate in time to veto an idea to use Day-Glo colors for the decorating scheme. The last thing Kurama wants is to have to deal with _that many_ bright hues hurting his eyes. Thankfully, most of the others agree with him.

_In the end I wanna be standing at the beginning with you!_

----

"Man, I forgot how well Kohaku knows how to party," groans Craig as he and Luke step out of the portal into their apartment's living room. It's now nearly one o' clock in the morning by either continent's time, the party having wound down less than half an hour ago after the Elemental Quartet--_lively bunch_, Craig thinks to himself--had bid everyone a good night and used that insta-teleport thing they do to head home; Rei had taken Taro with her, naturally.

Luke chuckles while he helps Craig into their bedroom, plopping the slightly-shorter human onto the bed while the bat-blooded male claims the first shower. "How often is it we get the whole gang together, eh?" the black-haired male counters genially as he turns on the water. "She had good reason to make it last."

A snicker. "Yeah, but our pretty sheila was makin' eyes at the hottie 'fore we left!"

"Can't blame her," comes from the bathroom. "Hiei's a _total _bad-ass bishie." Craig just lies on the bed while he catalogs his aches; pounding head from concentrating so hard on the music, sore fingers from the reaching he was doing with the keys, sore everything from dancing and tussling with everyone. He rates the bash a twelve on a nine-point scale.

"Sigh, but we have great friends." A habit he picked up from other otakus in their gang here in the States, Craig actually vocalizes the sound instead of just using his breath to make it. "Ne, koibito?"

"Ne, koibito." The sultry tone pulls Craig to his feet and tugs him until he stands in the bathroom door, grinning at the youkai-blood wearing nothing more than his hair and a towel. One ebony eyebrow rises suggestively.

"Well? Are you just going to stand there and drool or are you going to help me wash my hair?"

_We were strangers, on a crazy adventure._

Later on, the Australian-born blonde helps his lover rebraid that glorious fall of ink-black hair, brushing it out carefully before plaiting the shining damp strands into a tail thicker than his wrist. His own sandy hair has been carelessly slicked back out of his violet eyes, too short for even a ponytail as Luke so often mourns.

On both young men's ring-fingers there is a single gel-ring of glittering red marking their promise in a more subtle--and unique--way than plain old boring gold bands. These shine wetly beneath the single, sixty-watt soft bulb in the ceiling lamp, looking rather like jewelry made from a vampire's tears. (One of Luke's cousin is of the vampire-bat variety, and she cries tears of clear red instead of plain saltwater.)

_Never dreaming, how our dreams would come true._

Luke is as content as his lover, the eighteen-year-olds knowing damn well that this is going to last and not fall apart like both their past relationships--those had been first loves, and first loves don't always last. Back then it had been all about the snogging, anyway. You don't get a good relationship on that alone.

This time, this time it's a lot more. Even without the physical intimacy--while it does spice things up a little--Luke would still adore this pure-blood ningen with all his mixed-blood heart.

"Have I forgotten to mention today how glad I am I found you?" He leans his head back just as the silken plait is tied off with a metal-free elastic and gets a kiss on the nose.

"You did. And I'm reciprocating; I'm glad I found you, too." An impish smile viewed upside-down by the darker male. "Think our parents will ever get over it?"

"Meh, give it time, they'll get used to it." A wicked laugh as Luke rests his head in Craig's lap. "Eventually."

"We got Genkai's number, right?"

"Botan's taking us over there on Tuesday via portal and oar."

"Can't we just elope?"

"Candy and the other girls would kill us." A moment of thought as Luke considers the likely reactions of the girls--especially Candy (wolf-Kohaku), their most loyal supporter. "After they cooed at us for being romantic first."

A snort. "Romantic, hell, I don't want to deal with the mess of a handfasting. Easier than a wedding, my ass."

"Thought your ass was mine, love."

"And you call _me_ a lech, night-flyer?" Violet eyes are caught by rusty-brown ones above a sensual pout.

"Do you really not want to go through it, Craig?"

A defeated sigh. "Yes, I want to get handfasted. You want the ceremony and I want to make you happy. Besides, that way no one can try to move in on my territory and I get you all to myself forever and ever." Craig blinks as slender fingers reach up to tangle in his short hair, pulling his head down for a lingering kiss.

"Spoken like the man I love."

_Now here we stand, unafraid of the future, at the beginning with you!_

----

_Life is a road that I wanna keep going, love is a river I wanna keep flowing, life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey!_

Moonlight shines into the depths of the Dark Forest, illuminating two figures walking slowly amongst the huge trees. The smaller of the two glows more brightly, seeming almost translucent beneath the silvery light.

The taller tops the smaller's petite height by at least two feet, his long silver hair gleaming like living metal while his amber eyes are glowing jewels. Both move with easy silence among the broad trunks, the tangled underbrush pulling itself neatly aside as they pass.

A tanned hand reaches out, a graceful tiny one accepting it and getting helped over a particularly thick root. Not that Aislin needs the help, but it's a courtly gesture that she misses from the 'good old days'.

This is their chosen territory for the Living World, the danger-filled place known as the Dark Forest just beyond the temple of Genkai. It's been a few hours since the party ended, the two foxes having chosen to unwind here where the air is scented with pain and death; just like the Makai.

"Ah, for the old times when a quiet walk in a fox's forest didn't mean our noses would still be filled with the smell of humans," Aislin sighs, leaning against Yoko's side as they stroll along. "Mind you, humans are an interesting diversion, but the time they spend in one body is so distressingly short and they spend most of it just living."

"I know," Yoko agrees softly, his arm stealing around her waist as he thinks how little time he has with his mother. "A mere century at best, barely the time it takes a youkai child to mature."

"Yoko, why are we still here?" comes the wistful, yearning question. "Why aren't we back at the Lair, causing chaos and trouble like we used to? I'm tired of the killing, but I miss the excitement of the chase."

"Soon, beloved, soon. When those we know in human flesh have gone to the next turning, and there is nothing left chaining us here to this dull world." Yoko's tone conveys similar emotions to the ice-fox's, tired from the centuries they've seen pass. Then it lightens somewhat, life glimmering in the amber depths. "Although, there are plenty of lovely things the humans have made that would be interesting to possess."

_I'll be there when the world stops turning, I'll be there when the storm is through, in the end I wanna be standing at the beginning with you!_

"Ah, my heart-thief!" laughs Aislin as Yoko spins her into a clearing in the first steps of a kitsune tribal dance. "It's always about the trinkets with you!"

"Not necessarily," the Silver Thief demurs with his wicked grin of old, "sometimes it's about the sex."

"Cha! You and your one-track mind!" The nocturnal denizens of the forest fall silent at the ghostly laughter pealing through the moonlit darkness, overlaying the sweet music as two ethereal figures dance in the blood-scented night.

Within the temple, an old woman listens to the faint song with a reminiscent smile, hearing the two voices rise in harmony. It's considered bad luck to hear a fox sing. Feh, like she cares.

"So, my heart-thief, what shall we steal first when the day comes?"

A gleaming white smile. "I was thinking of retrieving those Season Stones to start with. Sound like a good idea?"

"Just as long as I go with you this time. No more lone robberies for _you_!" Laughter replaces the singing, wrapping the swirling pair in sparkling platinum dust.

----

_Knew there was somebody, somewhere…_

Kohaku grins upward at Hiei as they walk to the Piers' home not ten miles from Kurama's place, the fire apparition strolling along the top of the chain-link fence with ridiculous ease. He senses her gaze and smiles back down at her, the wind ruffling his striped hair and tugging at the pair's band finery.

_A new love there, in the dark…_

Craig and Luke are asleep in their bed, as carelessly sprawled as only two teenagers can be, tangled in the bedsheets and each other. Cute, really. Craig starts mumbling as a nightmare shades his dreams dark; Luke cuddles closer and sleepily mutters something soothing, the blond boy falling into peaceful slumber once more.

_Now I know my dream will live on…_

Rei hums as she spins, a silver-blue Thread glowing brightly from where it winds around her left forearm. Through it, the fire-fox human girl can sense her fiancée asleep in the guest bedroom beyond her starlit workspace, sleeping deeply and as limp as a rag doll. All of the stress caused by long years of torment falls away from his almost-elfin face in dreams, leaving only serenity behind--it's her favorite time to watch him.

_I have waited so long…Nothing's gonna tear us apart!_

Aislin and Yoko Dance through the forest, plants blooming wherever their feet touch, secure in the knowledge that though centuries may come, and centuries may go, but not even Death in all her chilling glory can keep them from each other. They proved it once, they can do it again.

Laughing and singing snatches of their favorites songs as they Dance, the Winter Rose and Silver Thief whirl with careless abandon through their forest.

_Life is a road that I wanna keep going…_

"Come on, fluffy-fur, I'll race ya!"

"Hn! Loser gets their hair dyed pink!"

_Love is a river I wanna keep flowing…_

"Mmph, pass the pocky, nightflyer?"

"Soon's you fork over the soda…" Quiet snores.

_Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey._

"Spin, spin, the destinies, and sleep well my lover…" Giggle. Whirr, whirr.

_I'll be there when the world stops turning…_

The rustling of leaves as quicksilver feet pass through them.

_I'll be there when the storm is through…_

"Aw, no fair, fluffy-fur! Picking me up's cheating!"

"You never said the rules, baka-ookami." Laughter.

_In the end, I'm gonna be standing at the beginning…_

A sleepy yawn as Luke rolls over.

_With you._

Eyes open in the darkness. "Rei, stop workin' n' get some sleep."

A gleam of fangs. "When I'm finished, koi, go back to sleep."

_Starting out on a journey…_

The moon gazes down on two dancers, tracing out patterns of life with their flashing feet and a skein of platinum dust that swirls around them.


End file.
